Sony drops official PS4 unboxing video in Daft Punk tribute

After months of rumour, intrigue, and ceremonious dropping of pennies into the piggy bank, peeling off the wrappings of your all-powerful next-gen console against the backdrop of a dowdy office just doesn’t have enough….oomph, does it?

Instead, when the time comes this month to unsheathe your mighty PS4, track down your nearest space-age server room and get creative with some spotlights, rather like Sony Worldwide Studios presiden Shuhei Yoshida handily demonstrates in this unboxing video.

Sony’s marketing team don’t walk the fine line between creativity and insanity so much as cartwheel down it, setting off party-poppers whilst whistling kumbaya. The PlayStation 2 was first promoted in a terrifying dreamworld of moody monochrome, then a few years later they tried to persuade us to buy a PS3 by plonking a murderous-looking baby doll in front of the gleaming console. Perhaps realising that forcing customers to live out their worst nightmares this side of Elm Street isn’t the best marketing tactic, the team toned it down for the practically family-friendly “Perfect Day” PS4 ad.

This latest video, however, starts tip-toeing back down the tightrope towards crazy, taking an ordinarily normal unboxing format and transforming it into a Daft Punk parody.

The official unveiling places the much-anticipated console under the same spotlight that once revealed Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” album in its own unboxing video.

A pair of hands, gloved in exquisite brown leather, gently inspects the PS4 box's contents: A network voucher, an English quick start guide, a DualShock 4 controller, an HDMI cable, an AC chord, a mono headset and a USB cable. Finally, the PlayStation console itself is held aloft above Yoshida’s head into a shard of light. The only thing missing is Mufassa and a bowing herd of zebras.

The network voucher will give users 30 days of PS Plus and Music unlimited for free, whilst the mono headset gives gamers immediate access to an immersive online multiplayer experience.